Houses of the Hoenn Region
by Micah Debrink
Summary: Because someone's house can tell you a lot about their lives. We visit the homes of six prominent trainers in the Hoenn region. A Pokémon Adventures fic. Features GracefulShipping. A companion to my other one-shot, "Perfect".


(This is an idea I had one afternoon and I couldn't resist writing down. It also turned out to be one of the cleanest stories I have published on this site. But regardless, I hope you enjoy the story!)

* * *

The Houses of the Hoenn Region

 _Ruby—Single-family home, Littleroot Town; 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms_

At last, Ruby had gotten a chance to live on his own, just around the time he decided to retire from contests at fifteen years of age. His mother moved out to live with Norman in Petalburg. Ruby had already moved his contest ribbons and collectible posters into the larger master suite, now unoccupied. He liked it better. It was on the upper floor, and felt much more private. The Hoenn trainer was hounded by the press every day, interested in what he was doing after contests, and whether he was going to come out of retirement.

He would go to his new bedroom, lie in the soft, oversized king bed for hours, staring at the spin of the ceiling fan, while the ravenous press made noise outside his front door. He was well protected from the chaos; that was his only consolation for being so lonely. He silenced his cell phone to avoid pesky calls from the press. He was also afraid to make phone calls, because more unscrupulous journalists were known to wiretap phone calls.

All he wanted was to get out of the house. Do the things he never had the chance to do. Go out and take a walk with his pokémon. Maybe even do some battling. He knew damn well that it was way too young for him to retire.

But the press was always waiting at his door.

* * *

 _Sapphire—Secret hideout, plus a room at Professor Birch's laboratory; Littleroot Town_

Sapphire never liked to settle. Her secret hideout in the cave seemed to get smaller and smaller as she grew up, and the walls of her father's laboratory always felt restrictive. She had become less of a barbarian, much to Ruby's relief. She had started getting more comfortable with wearing regular clothes, and she reasoned that grass skirts weren't really appropriate as she got older. She "civilized" herself even further by joining a few pokémon contests with Ruby.

A small corner of her room above Professor Birch's (her father's) laboratory was devoted to her pokémon's comparatively modest number of contest ribbons. This was placed right next to her 8 gym badges, still pinned to her fanny pack and hanging on a hook on the wall.

Every time she did return to her secret hideout (occasionally staying overnight), it started getting more and more overgrown with weeds. She had been visiting less often. Although she only felt it a matter of time before she completely grew out of her "wild child" days, she couldn't help but feel reluctant to let go. Even as she would exit the contest building, her pokémon plastered with ribbons, she couldn't help but stare out into the wild forests at the fringe of the city. And her pokémon would stare as well.

* * *

 _Marge [also known as Courtney]—Small cabin with 10 acres of land, Lavaridge Town; 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom_

No matter where she moved, Marge couldn't forget her past. Even when she found out Maxie had been killed, she didn't believe that it was over. Like everything else, her past fell into the pit, to be consumed by the eternal flames. She rarely left her cabin on the outskirts of Lavaridge. If she went into town, she would always get dirty looks from the townspeople. Even though Team Magma was supportive of Lavaridge's well-being, the locals weren't about to submit to making friends with a criminal organization.

As a result, the former Team Magma member started growing fewer flowers and more food crops in her garden, so she could feed herself without having to go into town to buy groceries. She regretted not having flowers to spruce up her otherwise bland wooden cottage, but flowers didn't grow well in Lavaridge's hot summer weather, anyway. In the summer, she avoided going outside because the blazing hot weather made her think about Team Magma. She would crank up the A/C to full and sit in a dark, sunless corner of the living room, breathing the artificially icy air.

She hadn't thrown away her Team Magma uniform. She kept on the door of her closet, so every time she opened the door, she would see it. She didn't want to have it anymore; she just couldn't think of a way to dispose of it. Burning it was difficult to do; she didn't have single open flame in her house. She used an electric stove, and her house had geothermal heating during the winter. She did her best to escape from the old flames that plagued her. There were times that the hot sun would beat down so hard on her garden, and she'd wonder if hell was actually above her.

One dark, moonless night, she started a fire on her land. She threw her Team Magma uniform into the flame until it was burnt to a crisp, then she extinguished the flame with some water. The fire disappeared quickly. It was like the flame never had much of a grip on her.

She never used an open flame ever again.

* * *

 _Wallace—Gym apartment, Sootopolis City; 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom_

Wallace hadn't talked to Winona for three long weeks. It only seemed long because it was comparatively quiet in Sootopolis since the Kyogre and Groudon disaster, and the peace was almost a shock to the gym leader's senses.

His bedroom was a beautiful mess. Piles of professional photoshoots with his beautiful pokémon crowded his desk and walls, all of their glittering eyes staring at him, vying for his attention. It forced him to shut his eyes at night when he went to bed.

He was so lost in the photos of his glorious past that he had forgotten to take care of his pokémon. His sealeo had even started going berserk from being cooped up inside the gym, and he had to call Ruby's friend Emerald to help calm it.

Not that he stopped doing contests entirely. His team of pokémon were ever-reliable, and he was frequently asked by the contest director to give demo shows for the spectators. His pokémon had gotten so familiar with the routine that by now he didn't even need to give out orders; he could've let the pokémon do it all by themselves. At the end of the exquisite performance, he would save all the energy he had in one day to crack a smile and take a bow.

Winona finally came to visit. She stopped by his gym one afternoon without warning, which was unlike her—she always adhered to a schedule when it came to her daily routine. But regardless, it was great to see her after all this time.

"Things…things are quiet at the Fortree Gym," Winona said at the door. "I thought I'd pop by."

Wallace chuckled. "It's a Saturday, your gym is always packed."

"Okay, I lied. I closed the gym today. So sue me," she joked. "Can I come in?"

"I'm so sorry for the mess," Wallace remarked as she stepped inside. "Won't you sit down?"

"It's…rather stuffy in here, isn't it?" A whole mess of photos and other papers also crowded the living room, the dust accumulating in the air.

"Really…I haven't thought much of it. I guess you live in Fortree, so you're used to the fresh air."

She didn't look at Wallace. Instead she sunk into Wallace's living room sofa, panting with exhaustion. "Wallace…erm…could you open a window for me?"

He raised an eyebrow. "A…a window? Sure, Winona, of course." It took quite a bit of strength for him to slide up the window; it was an old building, and the windows would stick a lot.

"So…how are things?" Wallace said, casually leaning against the wall while his guest sat down. It wasn't like Winona to get tired so easily.

"Nothing much…it's…all…right…" the Fortree gym leader started shaking.

Wallace walked towards her. "Winona…what's the matter…?"

She choked on her words. "I'm…I'm pregnant."

Wallace quickly went to open the window even more. It took all of his strength but if he hadn't done it, he himself might've fainted from lack of oxygen.

* * *

 _Winona—Gym apartment, Fortree City; 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom_

The gym leader got sick about three times that morning. Winona had only had taken on two challengers that morning and she was exhausted. She headed upstairs to her apartment, in a hollowed-out tree trunk. She leaned over the hole cut open as a window, and started choking. At least nothing came out. Nonetheless, she was still very queasy. She grabbed her dining room chair and placed it by the window to get maximum fresh air. Perhaps Wallace was right. Fortree had spoiled her with its fresh air.

Winona liked Fortree from the get-go because day in day out she was surrounded by life. Nature, greenery. When she first moved here, she would just take the tree-basket lifts to the grassy overhead walkways and just revel at all the life sprouting unrelentingly across the forest city. The beautifly and butterfree would settle at the flowers outside her window. The ivy around the organic walls of her dwelling grew every spring with no effort. The nature all around her filled a void in her heart, a void that was meant to be filled by a lover. Nature had always been her lover.

But now she was only four weeks into her pregnancy and she was starting to tire out. All around her, thousands of lives were abound, while she was struggling to even nurture a single life. And it was infuriating.

Part of her was angry at Wallace. After she announced her pregnancy, she got into an argument with Wallace and stormed out of the Sootopolis Gym. She was already forty, and the thought of having a child at her age was daunting. It was her fear that made her snap at Wallace and storm out of his gym. She cried as her altaria flew her back from Sootopolis, but she was sure it wasn't just her hormones acting up. It had been ten days since she went to Sootopolis, and she still couldn't find the sympathy to call Wallace and talk over things.

She never had planned for children. She was a tomboy for much of her life, and focused on her battle skills until she slowly worked her way up to become Mentor of Hoenn Gym Leaders. She never respected Wallace. He was a remarkable battler, but chose to become a sissy and take part in contests, abandoning his gym for long periods of time. And as the Mentor, she was ordered to put a stop to it.

He embodied the gracefulness of a feminine touch during his contest performances, while she exemplified a formidable battler in the Hoenn region. In her mind, she was the man, and he the woman.

But then they fought side by side against Team Aqua and Team Magma. She also found out he had been champion of the Pokémon League. He was so brave. He sacrificed his own well being to save her from being asphyxiated to death by a tentacruel.

She smiled. If that wasn't a man she didn't know what was. Times had changed. A lot had changed. And even if the ivy grew and the flowers bloomed in Fortree every spring, she couldn't deny that many things had changed.

She mustered up the courage to pick the phone.

"Hello, Wallace?"

"The number you have reached is currently unavailable."

She hung up. She leaned out the window, and this time she threw up. After that, she closed the gym and hid inside her tree house, closing her eyes, refusing to set sight on the deplorable nature surrounding her.

* * *

 _Norman—Gym apartment, Petalburg City; 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom_

Norman hung up on the phone. The Petalburg City gym leader started silently out the window of his Gym apartment.

"How is Ruby?" His wife asked, cautiously approaching her husband from behind. If her husband was quiet, it meant one of two things; he was sad, or he was angry. More frequently, it was the latter.

He didn't know. His wife touched his shoulder. He resisted the urge to pull her hand away.

"Ruby…" he began. "I called him, but he didn't answer. It went straight to voicemail." He sighed, moving away from the window. Even though the apartment was small, it felt lonely without Ruby. As much as he appreciated his wife being there, Ruby just knew how to liven up a room. It just felt so lonely without his son.

"It's my fault Ruby isn't talking to me. It must be something I did," Norman mumbled. It was quiet enough inside the room that his wife could hear.

"Norman—"

"Don't try to cover for me, woman!" He shouted, but did not hit his wife. "I've had enough of lies already. I wasted five years of my life on a lie."

"Ruby's not mad at you, Norman."

"Like hell he isn't. First, I abandon him for five years. Then when I get back he becomes a sissy and I disown him just because of that. He wanted to win all the contests. Instead of supporting him, I told him to go away."

"You didn't tell Ruby to run away from home," his wife said.

"I know. But he didn't leave home for just any old reason. He was angry at me."

Norman walked over to the living room. There were two red leather sofas placed at the corner of the room. Norman sat on one of them, his head hung with resignation. "I just wish we had another chance." Ruby was their only child, and his wife couldn't have children anymore.

His wife sat on the other leather sofa. She sat on the cushion that was indented. "Norman, I wouldn't take it—"

"What have I done to deserve this!?"

His wife approached him again. She sat beside him on his sofa, on the cushion that was not indented. "You have me, Norman."

His face softened. "That's true. That's true."

"Don't let our son divide us. We've been divided for far too long."

Norman thought it ironic that he was the keeper of the Balance Badge, a barbell with two circular weights at equilibrium. His living at the Gym apartment was a constant reminder of that. The two equally-sized leather sofas were intended to create symmetry, but only one cushion on each sofa was indented, ruining the balance.

The couple stood up, leaning against the window. He was much taller than she was. He was a formidable battler, she the domesticated homebody. As much as they tried to make it balanced, they never could be.

Ruby was the only happy medium. A balance of Dad's battle ability and Mom's soft femininity and gracefulness.

"All that matters is that we're together now," Norman's wife said, the biggest smile on her face.

The next morning, Norman ordered that one of the two sofas in the living room be removed. From then on, he always sat together with his wife.

(END)

* * *

(You will note that Emerald is not featured. To read more about his story, you can read my one-shot "Perfect".)

(Thanks for reading! Whose story do you like the best? Let me know in the comments!)


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